Having kids is so cool.  They get to develop little lives and you get to watch.  Ava is such an interesting person, even at 3 years old.  She is into all of these little things - I just love that about her.  Ava's favorite animal is a sheep.  She LOVES sheep, especially stuffed sheep that feel really wooly and say 'baa.'  I search high and low for sheep that say 'baa.'  We talk sheep all the time - we talk about them, talk like them, and make them talk to each other.  She sleeps with exactly three sheep and sometimes, when I walk past her room shortly after we have tucked her in, I will hear her making up simple, little conversations between the sheep.  This mostly consists of, "I'm a big one!  I'm a medium one!" and so on.  They often baa to each other.  The biggest one has the lowest voice and the smallest one...well, you get it.  The funny thing is that I'm obsessed with the fact that Ava loves sheep so much.  I love that she loves them - I think it's so cute!  I guess I wasn't ever sure what she would be into; at times, I didn't think that she would really be into anything that I would understand.  Now we have an inside joke that goes like this: One of us will randomly say, "Say baa," and the other will answer back, "Say baa."  It's an Ava and Mommy thing.  We say it to each other all the time, for no reason at all.  Talk about connected.

I wanted to devote this journal entry to listing some of the cool things that Ava and Lucie do, say, or are totally into. 

Ava loves:

• things that are rubbery - toy worms, spiders, 'spaghetti' and 'noodle' balls, rubbery P & Q, streatchy rubbery ropes, Play Doh (classified as 'rubbery,' according to Ava), anything in a tactile book that feels rubbery, and finally, the weirdest toy ever, which Ava calls, "teeth and tongue" - it is literally a rubbery model of the mouth with this really disgusting looking tongue that sticks out.  Aunt Katie happens to be the best at finding new and cool rubbery toys.
• things that are sticky - sticky, streatchy bunnies that Deb gave to her, sticky suckers, sticky tactile pictures in her touch & feel books, and most of all, sticky syrup on pancakes
• things that record - her play cell phone that has a recording function and, most of all, her digital recorder that holds 4 folders and thousands of minutes of audio.  We have recorded Ava singing, counting, talking, eating, you name it.  Those recordings are like her photo albums - they are her memories, and she loves to listen to them. 
• questions: Ava tells me to ask her questions in one of three categories: animal questions, person questions, or family questions.  The person and family categories sometimes overlap and sometimes we even talk about family animals. :)  She can answer questions like, "What animal's baby is called a foal?" (A horse, of course) and "What person always says, 'Hi baby doll!" (Mimi)  She also likes preschool questions: What is the letter of the week?  Many preschool questions and answers must be followed by Mommy singing the popular preschool song, "Great job, Ava." 
• Stories on CD: Ava's current favorite is one called, "Sheep in a Jeep" (surprise).  She basically will listen to any story on CD, as long as it has music and sound effects.
• Animal sounds, animal stories, animal facts: We just have to take her to a real farm this summer.
• The alphabet and phonics: Ava now knows nearly every letter's sound(s) and can often tell us what words start with what letters.  Thank you, LeapFrog and preschool! 
• imitating Mommy on the phone (I really have to watch what I say!)
• wrestling with Daddy and Dida and imitating Dida's crazy sounds and sayings while he wrestles with her.  Some current favorites that Ava likes to repeat, "Are you mockin me, boy?" and "Ladies and gentlemen, there's a fight in the stadium!"  This keeps us laughing for hours. 
• anything involving water: bathing, swimming, washing her hands, blowing bubbles in a Dixie cup of water, spilling her cup of water all over herself after brushing her teeth (3 minutes before the bus is supposed to pick her up for preschool - ugh.)
• Eat n Park smiley coookies, which are also known as dinosour cookies, bunny cookies, and Eat n Bark cooks. 
• being in the kitchen while I'm cooking.  Her favorite thing to compare is how heavy and light sweet potatoes feel.  Who knows? 
• going to the grocery store and riding in the little cars attached to the shopping cart. 
• swinging - she could do this for hours!
• Daddy's guitar music - Ava has a whole catalogue of songs that Daddy plays and she can sing most of them; she also dances like crazy! My personal favorite: the "diapee and rubbery" song.  he he :)
• Singing about anything related to "boogies" with Daddy.  Oh, gross!
• Her Goodnight Moon story box, made by Aunt Katie.  This is a must before bedtime.

Lucie loves:

• Being on her changing table; we have a caterpillar that plays classical tunes and butterflies that light up for her to look at; she just goes nuts over these two things.
• Having her clothes off - she kicks and kicks and I just know she wants to scream, "I'm freeeeee!"
• Peeing on the changing table with her diaper off. :(
• Licking the tip of Mommy's nose when I ask her for a kissie. 
• Grabbing at any toy she can reach, especially hanging rings.
• Taking her paci out with her hand.
• Sucking on her fingers and making that cute sucking sound. 
• Staring at her hands for a really long time.
• Sitting up - her back muscles are so strong!  She will be an early sitter.
• Watching and listening to Ava play.  She is starry-eyed. 
• Feeling her head and hair with open hands as she is falling asleep.  This is the most beautiful thing to watch.  She opens those little hands and rubs her head all over, while sucking on her paci.  She sooths herself to sleep this way.
• Sleeping for 10 hours straight every night.  Wooo-hooo!!
• Sucking on my shoulder and/or shirt.
• Rolling over from her belly to her back - it's hard to get that tummy time in.
• Talking to me just after she finishes her bottle.  She talks in this soft, sweet little voice and I think she's trying to say, "I love you for giving me that bottle." 
• Screaming and yelling when she is excited, especially if we make really happy faces at her.